535: The Art of Constructing Apologies, with Sandra Sucher

Coaching for Leaders

Dave Stachowiak

Education, Business, Management, Self-improvement, Careers

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sandra Sucher: The Power of Trust Sandra Sucher is an internationally recognized trust researcher and professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. She studies how organizations build trust and the vital role leaders play in the process. Before joining Harvard, she was a business executive for 20 years, served on corporate and nonprofit boards, and has been Chair of the Better Business Bureau. As an advisor to the Edelman Trust Barometer, her research has been featured in several national publications. She is the author with Shalene Gupta of the book, The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It*. In this conversation, Sandra and I explore the three elements of a good apology in the professional setting. We also look at additional elements the research suggests may be useful in many places in our lives. Finally, Sandra highlights some ways we can do better on empathy in order to avoid situations where we destroy trust. Key Points Combine three elements for a good apology, especially in a professional setting: Acknowledgment of responsibility: The offender makes a statement that demonstrates they understand their part in the trust betrayal. Explanation: The offender describes the reasons for the problem. Offer of repair: The offender offers a solution for rebuilding trust. In addition, consider three more elements for apologies in any scenario: Expression of regret: The offender expresses how sorry they are. Declaration of repentance: The offender promises not to make the same mistake again. Request for forgiveness: The offender explicitly asks for pardon. To interrupt the reality that leaders tend to struggle with empathy: Reflect in writing with as much detail as possible about the people and situation in question. Ask yourself, “Am I being fair?” Resources Mentioned The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It* by Sandra Sucher and Shalene Gupta The Power of Trust website Interview Notes Download my interview notes in PDF format (free membership required). Related Episodes Use Power for Good and Not Evil, with Dacher Keltner (episode 254) The Choice for Compassion, with Edith Eger (episode 336) The Way Into Difficult Conversations, with Kwame Christian (episode 497) Discover More Activate your free membership for full access to the entire library of interviews since 2011, searchable by topic.

Transcript

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0:00.0	All of us have messed up, and a lot of us learned at some point from a parent or teacher
0:06.3	how to apologize, but apologizing can sometimes feel more complex in the professional setting.
0:13.9	In this episode, what the research suggests on the art of constructing an apology at work.
0:20.8	This is Coaching for Leaders, Episode 535.
0:25.7	Introduced by Innovate Learning, Maximizing Human Potential.
0:31.8	Greetings to you from Orange County, California.
0:37.7	This is Coaching for Leaders, and I'm your host, Dave Stahovjak.
0:42.7	Leaders aren't born, they're made.
0:45.2	In this weekly show, helps you discover leadership wisdom through insightful conversations.
0:51.6	One of the practices that every leader needs, well actually every human being needs,
0:58.5	is the ability to construct an apology, and not just construct it, but actually to do
1:04.1	it in an authentic way.
1:06.0	I think we've all received some kind of advice at some point on how to actually give an
1:11.1	appropriate apology, and yet it is something that so many of us have really never received
1:17.0	training on or even really looked at the research on how we can actually craft an apology
1:23.0	that's meaningful, appropriate, and engenders trust.
1:27.0	I'm so glad today to welcome someone who's absolutely an expert on trust is going to help
1:32.1	us on this and really help us to be so much more effective in our communications.
1:37.1	I'm glad to introduce to you Sandra Sucher.
1:39.9	She is an internationally recognized trust researcher and professor of management practice
1:45.0	at Harvard Business School.
1:46.8	She studies how organizations build trust and the vital role leaders play in the process.
	...

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